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Available at Sparrow Pole Bungalows! Cute one room birdhouse with plenty of floor space and a tall ceiling for that perfect cozy nest. You’re sure to be the Early Bird in the neighborhood as the front door faces east so your day will start with the sun shining into your cozy nest.
You’ll love your neighbors, and there are bird feeders nearby.
Birdhouses
This post is part of the Thursday Doors- a weekly challenge group hosted by Dan Antion over at No Facilities. Click on the link to see other doors from around the world-https://nofacilities.com/2024/04/18/still-in-oakland/
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Last week He-Man and I had a little get-away for our 43rd anniversary. We didn’t go too far just up to Sparks, NV.
We booked a balcony suite at Hampton Inn & Suites at the marina for the view of Helms Lake, and view of Reno’s skyline. This lake has an interesting beginning.
“The site was once a gravel pit owned by the Helms Construction Corp. (1968-1995) The pit is 100 feet deep. They found petroleum and solvent contamination seeping into the pit in 1987 so it was declared a Super Toxic Sight and clean up began. In 1996 it was declared free of petrochemicals and the site was turned over to the city of Sparks.
Millions of dollars of spill mitigation money was made available to the city, which they used to construct the park and make the pit a recreational pond. They had planned to fill the pit to 30 feet, but in January 1997 the Truckee River overflowed its banks and filled the Helms Pit creating what is now Richard Helms Lake or Sparks Marina Pond.” You can read a little more about how it stays filled at the link. https://www.ndow.org/waters/sparks-marina/
Now for our view-
Our day-time balcony view
It was pretty windy the day we were up there as you can see by the water.
Our Evening View
We both really enjoyed having this evening view when the lights in the city came on.
I had hoped our 4th floor balcony room would afford a great view of the sky so I could also try to photograph Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, but alas we had a storm rolling in and cloud cover.
Finally, Monday night April 1st…no joke! We had a clear night so I went out to my front yard and spied the Comet.
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks with faint tail.Green Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks cropped in.Dialing in my focus I got Jupiter and her Moons too.
We had a lovely anniversary walking around the lake both days, and we found a new Indian place we liked a lot for dinner so, we’ll make the drive up for that again when we’re craving Indian food, and we’ll be staying there again when the weather is warmer and we’ll take our kayak up for a paddle around the lake.
I hope the stars have lined up a fantastic week for you.
Nikon D850| Nikkor 80-200mm| iPhone 14 Pro| PS CC 25.5.1
I’ve mentioned a couple of times that I’m working my way through a watercolor book called Ready to Paint- Trees and Woodlands. They say you can do these exercises and little paintings in 30 minutes, but it takes me hours.
This is Nº7 called Farmhouse. The lesson was working on a variegated wash of colors, and painting around a negative space. That means painting in the wash of sky, and the background behind the farmhouse and barn first then paint the farmhouse and barn.
Farmhouse in Watercolor Nº7 Trees and Woodlands-Ready to Paint
It took me about 1.5 hours to paint this. Pretty quick for me. I painted the sky and background then let it dry overnight before tackling the trees and buildings. I find myself letting things dry, then ruminating about the next step before actually taking the next step. Fear of making a mistake? Oh yes!
Anyway, it didn’t come out too bad just a little wonky. I see things I would change the next time I try something like this. On the whole I think the wash came out okay, and I used the negative space like I was supposed to. The rock wall was supposed to be a hedge but, I added my own spin on it, I wanted a wall instead. On y va!
I’ve been birding a lot so, I’ll have bird images to share soon.
I hope you’re all having a good week.
140lb 100% cotton paper| M.Graham and Da Vinci Watercolors| iPhone 14Pro
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I don’t think I’ve ever shared this bird before. This is an image I made last summer.
Western Wood Peewee
Fun Facts:
The breeding ranges of the nearly identical Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees overlap only in a very narrow zone in the Great Plains. Despite the birds’ physical similarity, no evidence has ever been found that the two species interbreed in that area—perhaps because their songs sound so different.
Where exactly the Western Wood-Pewee goes in the winter is still a mystery. Both Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees migrate to northern South America, but because they look so similar and they don’t call much on the wintering ground it’s hard to say for certain where each species spends its winter.
The scientific name of the Western Wood-Pewee is Contopus sordidulus. Contopus comes from the Greek word kontos which means short and pous which means foot—referring to the relatively short legs on Contopus flycatchers. Sordidulus means dirty or unkempt, a reference to the dusky brown wash to the breast and flanks.
The Western Wood-Pewee makes a clapping noise with its bill while chasing and attacking intruders in nest defense.
The oldest recorded Western Wood-Pewee was a female, and at least 8 years, 1 month old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in California in 2002. She had been banded in the same state in 1995.
We’ve been under a high wind and storm watch since yesterday morning. As I write this the wind is howling at 24 mph with gusts up to 47 mph. They’re saying we may get 8 inches of snow between now and Saturday. The sun is out, the clouds are big white and fluffy in some spots to the east but, gray and looming over the Sierras to the west. As you can imagine we’re hanging out at home.
I was planning to go birding with a local birding group this morning, but due to the weather that’s been rescheduled.
I’ve been re-watching The Expanse while waiting for the new season of Vera to be released on Wednesday. After I finish The Expanse I’ll be binge watching Vera if all the episodes are available, and I’m still working my way through the Woodlands and Trees Ready to Paint class in a book. I finished exercise 6 but, the little wood bridge over the creek came out really wonky…even more wonky than my normal wonky so, I’m on my second attempt with that one, and I mixed up a dark green shade of paint that I don’t like on this second pass, so they’ll probably be a 3rd attempt at mastering exercise #6. 😀
That’s me all caught up. What’s happening with you?
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I’ve been updating and cleaning up my birding records which has me going back in my files 15 years. In the Spring of 2011 several friends and I went to Death Valley and on the way home we stopped to photograph wildflowers in a big field by the side of the road, well you’ve heard the saying, beware of a snake in the grass. Beware of Rattlesnakes in the wildflowers!
That’s not the closest I’ve come to a Rattlesnake while hiking, but it was too close for comfort even with my 300mm lens.
Then we backed out of the field and headed back to our cars only to discover another Western Diamondback coiled up sleeping beside the tire of my friend’s car soaking up the warmth from the sand and car engine! The driver had to get in via the passenger side of the car.
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Coventry Cross Episcopal Church is in my town, and I see this cross every time I drive through town using the main Hwy/Interstate 395. FYI the speed limit through this section of town is 25 MPH.
Wooden Cross
I’ve often wondered what the door(s) and front of the church look like so while I was in town running errands earlier this week I used the back streets to go just a couple of blocks from one place to another and finally saw the front doors.
As you can see it was gray, it was cold Tuesday morning, and there’s still snow on the ground from last week-end’s big snow storm.
Here’s a look at their glass doors and the whole building.
I didn’t bother taking out all the wires because I would have taken out the Cross on top of the bell tower too. My Photoshop skills aren’t good enough to put the cross back. What a shame to have all these wires going across it, but this is how it really looks. 😀
I did find a wee bit of history about this building on their site.
It says, ” Coventry Cross Episcopal Church, a member of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada. Serving the communities of Douglas County, Nevada , for over 55 years.
Coventry Cross Chapel was moved from its original site in Smith Valley, Nevada, to its present location in Minden, in October of 1954, to become the town’s first church. Before that, local Episcopalians worshipped in members’ homes and other buildings. While in Smith Valley, the Chapel was given the carved stone Tudor Cross which had stood on the porch of the Cathedral of St. Michael (Coventry Cathedral) at Coventry, England. Honoring the gift, the Chapel became “Coventry Cross Episcopal Church.” The rose quartz cross stands about three feet high and is carved with 28 Tudor roses with points terminating in a large blossom. It stands on the rood beam over the altar. At some point in its history it was stained brown to match the beam. The mantel of the fireplace (the original heat for the church) came from 14th century Malmesbury Abbey in England; the left corner stone of the fireplace is from a first century Roman wall at St. Alban’s; and the right corner stone is from 17th century St. Paul’s in London. The new parish hall modifies and expands the one built in 1958.”
Doesn’t that rose quartz cross and mantel sound lovely! I wish the chapel was open so I could have seen both. Maybe one day.
This post is part of the Thursday Doors group hosted by Dan Antion over at No Facilities which you can click on to see other doors from around the world- here
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